Help! I have a non-communicating TA

[Kellie Poodle]

LOL Janet -- I'd be willing to bet that you know more about cruising than most TA's out there -- especially when it comes to travel insurance and special needs issues! :cool:

So glad to hear that you found someone at your new travel agency who will work with you. We have friends who swear by their TA's -- but, you couldn't pay me enough to hand over control of my reservation to a third party. Back when we first started cruising, we had a bad experience with a nationally known travel agency. We quickly learned that, when your TA makes a mistake, the cruise line won't talk to you about fixing it. That was enough for us -- we've done all our own booking for the last decade, with very few problems.

Now, if I could just convince DH to give me a big OBC for letting him handle the cruise booking ..... :p

PS -- Can you believe that it's been a year since our Hawaii cruise?

 

I was thinking about that the other day. I almost wore my Hilo Hattie dress yesterday, but decided to go with something that had a jacket to match for air conditioning.

 

Liz and I are very much in touch and we'll be seeing them late next month as we come through Arlington,TX.

 

What are you doing on the RCI board? Thought you were exclusive to X?

 

Anyway good to hear from cruising buddies. Give our best to your DH.

[Alaskanb]

Having a less-than-stellar experience with a well-respected local company. I have had no notification of any price decreases -- I told them of one and they saw that we got it. The only correspondence I have had was regarding an up-sell. Also no notification of a significant (5 hr earlier) change in our air itinerary --nor even from the airline as it was not booked by me! Thankfully I am in the habit of checking itineraries!

I expected more from this company but should have asked what service they would provide me -- so far not enough to keep my business!

[Theodorable]

I love a specific big box company based in Florida. We always use them and have booked with them for a Celebrity Honolulu cruise to Sydney next year. By doing so rather than through Celebrity we have saved $701 so far. I have phoned them twice since we booked (1 week ago) never spoken to the same person, but with everything being in our file, there have been no problems whatsoever making any changes I want. We have booked many cruises with them and I truly can't understand why people advise people to stay away from these companies....with free gratuities for both of us for a 17 night cruise plus onboard credit, I think it is great. Just my opinion.

 

Nicola

[CPT Trips]

Curiosity makes me ask this. Can someone help me understand?

 

If you book direct with a cruise line, do they contact you to inform you that the price went down or that there is a new promo that might save you some money? Other than the person at the cruise line's toll free number being willing to talk to you directly, what "control" do you have tht you would sacrifice by booking through a TA?

[Shmoo here]

Curiosity makes me ask this. Can someone help me understand?

 

If you book direct with a cruise line, do they contact you to inform you that the price went down or that there is a new promo that might save you some money? Other than the person at the cruise line's toll free number being willing to talk to you directly, what "control" do you have tht you would sacrifice by booking through a TA?

 

In my experience (granted, limited), no a cruiseline will not contact you and let you know that their prices have gone down (when/if that happens), it would be on you to keep tabs on this. For us, our TA didn't contact us when the fare went down on our cruise, either. I found it and contacted the TA. She then had to be the one to make the change by contacting the cruiseline, I couldn't do it myself.

 

If there are any changes/questions about anything relating to monetary matters, picking rooms, dining changes, they all have to go through my TA.

[Alaskanb]

I love a specific big box company based in Florida. We always use them and have booked with them for a Celebrity Honolulu cruise to Sydney next year. By doing so rather than through Celebrity we have saved $701 so far. I have phoned them twice since we booked (1 week ago) never spoken to the same person, but with everything being in our file, there have been no problems whatsoever making any changes I want. We have booked many cruises with them and I truly can't understand why people advise people to stay away from these companies....with free gratuities for both of us for a 17 night cruise plus onboard credit, I think it is great. Just my opinion.

 

Nicola

:) Sounds wonderful!

The cost of our cruises never seem to be any better through them. We have had similar proportional savings and OBC on our latest Baltic adventure through Princess but certainly not the "free" gratuities.

[sail7seas]

Curiosity makes me ask this. Can someone help me understand?

 

If you book direct with a cruise line, do they contact you to inform you that the price went down or that there is a new promo that might save you some money? Other than the person at the cruise line's toll free number being willing to talk to you directly, what "control" do you have tht you would sacrifice by booking through a TA?

 

 

If you book through a cruise line, they (usually) will not advise of a price reduction though our PCC at HAL has done so in the past.

 

Most TA's don't do that either.

It is up to the traveler to keep track of the pricing and request reduction if they find a lower price.

 

[Kellie Poodle]

I love a specific big box company based in Florida. We always use them and have booked with them for a Celebrity Honolulu cruise to Sydney next year. By doing so rather than through Celebrity we have saved $701 so far. I have phoned them twice since we booked (1 week ago) never spoken to the same person, but with everything being in our file, there have been no problems whatsoever making any changes I want. We have booked many cruises with them and I truly can't understand why people advise people to stay away from these companies....with free gratuities for both of us for a 17 night cruise plus onboard credit, I think it is great. Just my opinion.

 

Nicola

 

My problem was with the big box company based in FL. That's where the non-communicating TA is located. They do offer great perks. Perhaps my mistake was trying to get the original TA when I called. I should have just asked for anyone.

[Kellie Poodle]

If you book through a cruise line, they (usually) will not advise of a price reduction though our PCC at HAL has done so in the past.

 

Most TA's don't do that either.

It is up to the traveler to keep track of the pricing and request reduction if they find a lower price.

 

 

 

You have to stay on top of cruise pricing yourself. There is one big box company in Houston that will check for you and notify you of a drop before making changes to your reservation, but they are the only TA I know that will do that.

 

I actively check prices for my cruises.

[CPT Trips]

So, what do you get by paying more money (net) to book directly through the cruise line? Seems like the idea of control of the reservation is just a matter of what telephone number you have to call.

[paul929207]

So, what do you get by paying more money (net) to book directly through the cruise line? Seems like the idea of control of the reservation is just a matter of what telephone number you have to call.

I have never understood this "keep control" stuff. Every time I have had a question or problem, my TA has handled it promptly.

[sail7seas]

It's wonderful to have choices.

The more choices the better.

It's great we all can choose the booking method that works best for us.

For example, a busy professional who bills at high dollars per hour may not think his/her time is best spent trying to save $200 on their next cruise. It might be a better price for them to spend ten minutes on the phone or even just a few e-mails dealing with their vacation planner at whatever cruise line. If that Cruise Consultant knows their wishes, knows exactly what they require each cruise, that traveler makes up more money in time saved than they would have lost by searching for the last dollar savings.

 

Just another viewpoint to consider. IMO

 

[ShawninFL]

I have never understood this "keep control" stuff. Every time I have had a question or problem, my TA has handled it promptly.

 

I sometimes use a TA and sometimes book directly with the cruise line. It depends on if I'm getting any perks (OBC, prepaid gratuities, etc) from the TA. The only 2 advantages I see in booking directly with the cruise line is that you can make changes to your reservation. We cruise with Royal Caribbean the majority of the time and if you book directly you can make changes to your reservation right online at any time. If I book early I can guarantee you I'm going to make changes. If the price goes down, I'm going to change. If a room in a better location on the ship opens up I'm going to change. So sometimes I feel guilty using a TA, because I know I'm going to change things as prices fluctuate and thus cause them more work for usually a smaller commission. The second advantage is simply the speed factor. You don't have to go through another person to make changes to the reservation. For most people, this isn't a big deal, but as I said, I change things up. Just last week in checking pricing for our upcoming cruise, there was a price decrease of $100.00 per person; however, all the cabins available in the reduced price category were on decks 2, 3 & 4. We prefer our room to be on an upper deck and we had our existing cabin was on deck 9. I checked everyday to see if a cabin opened up on an upper deck for 8 days straight with no luck. On the 9th morning while at work I found a cabin had become available on deck 8. I immediately called my TA, but she was not available. Being that I was at work and couldn't continue to pursue this cabin, I ultimately put a 24 hour hold on the cabin until I could get ahold of my TA at lunch. Doing this created more issues as my agent could not do anything with the hold and Royal Caribbean could not move the cabin out of my hold and onto my reservation. Ultimately, we had to do a 3way call where I manually cancelled my 24 hour hold and the Royal Caribbean agent could them grab the released cabin and attach to my existing reservation. If I had booked directly with Royal, I could have done the swap in about 30 seconds on the website.

 

These are the only advantages I can see to booking directly with the cruise line and in all honesty don't overcome the advantages received by using a good TA.

[sail7seas]

 

 

<snip>

 

 

These are the only advantages I can see to booking directly with the cruise line and in all honesty don't overcome the advantages received by using a good TA.

 

 

 

GOOD TA is certainly a major factor.

 

We had a good TA but they couldn't compete with internet shoppers and went out of business. I have not been able to find a good cruise TA in our area that knows nearly as much we've learned about cruise lines, cruise ships and booking cruises. I don't wish to teach them. :D Maybe after some learn from all their mistakes, we'd consider booking locally but I don't want to 'be their mistake.' :eek:

 

 

I try in all instances to keep the business local when I can. It is always my preference to support local businesses.

 

 

[Kellie Poodle]

GOOD TA is certainly a major factor.

 

We had a good TA but they couldn't compete with internet shoppers and went out of business. I have not been able to find a good cruise TA in our area that knows nearly as much we've learned about cruise lines, cruise ships and booking cruises. I don't wish to teach them. :D Maybe after some learn from all their mistakes, we'd consider booking locally but I don't want to 'be their mistake.' :eek:

 

 

I try in all instances to keep the business local when I can. It is always my preference to support local businesses.

 

 

 

I used to use a local TA. I never got a cent of OBC or anything from her and she booked several us. Not little 7 day Caribbean ones. I'm talking places like the Med, a Transatlantic and Australia/New Zealand cruise tour. Big money, for us, cruises. Not even a bottle of cheap wine in our cabin!

 

After I started reading about all the perks people were getting from their TAs on Cruise Critic, I stopped using her.

 

I book myself better cabins, much better flights and nab better cabin seats on the planes, too.

 

If I do use a TA, it's an online, big box one because they give me something I can't get myself. Most of the time I have a next cruise certificate and I'll book my own cruises either that way or on board, then make some phone calls and "shop" the reservation for the best perks.

 

I am retired and have lots of time to "play the game" :)

[Theodorable]

Hi Kelli Poodle, yes, your worry with the on-line company was trying to talk to one specific person. You absolutely don't have to do that. As long as you have your booking number, anyone on the end of the phone can help you. Good to know for the future...please don't worry about using them. Over the past 15 year we have used them for about 20 cruises and haven't had a single problem. We have never been charged for changes, cancelling cruises or any of the horror stories you hear about some TA's. They also email us well in advance to remind us about final payment dates.

 

Nicola

[Kellie Poodle]

Hi Kelli Poodle, yes, your worry with the on-line company was trying to talk to one specific person. You absolutely don't have to do that. As long as you have your booking number, anyone on the end of the phone can help you. Good to know for the future...please don't worry about using them. Over the past 15 year we have used them for about 20 cruises and haven't had a single problem. We have never been charged for changes, cancelling cruises or any of the horror stories you hear about some TA's. They also email us well in advance to remind us about final payment dates.

 

Nicola

 

Thank you Nicola. I never did get an email from them about final payment date, but did get an email regarding documentation, etc.

 

From now on I'll just call the main number and talk to whomever answers the phone.